Maple Grove City Council Rejects Bids for Water Meter Replacement Project

Four businesses hoping to be awarded the multi-million dollar water meter replacement project in Maple Grove will have submit their bids again.

The Maple Grove City Council rejected all four bids the city received for the project, a move recommended by city staff.

“The proposals received for the project were not consistent and/or compatible with each other and failed to fully comply with the project requirements,” Project Manager Verne Jacobsen said in a letter to City Engineer Ken Ashfeld, continuing by stating it was recommended the city “reject all proposals received” and request new bid proposals for the water meter replacement project.

All four bids reportedly exceeded the project’s estimated cost. The city estimated the project would cost $3.57 million, bids ranged from approximately $4.5 million to $5.1 million.

Included in the resolution, the City Council authorized the revised bid package to be issued for “a fixed network system with mobile read capability replacing only existing non-mobile read meters along with alternate bids for exclusive mobile read systems with and without mobile read meters.”

In an effort to update some of Maple Grove’s dated residential water meters, the Maple Grove City Council moved forward with replacement plans at their Sept. 6, 2011 meeting. The water meter replacement project aims to replace manual read meters and improve customer convenience and efficiencies in Maple Grove.

The resolution to reject all bids passed with a unanimous vote. Mayor
Mark Steffenson and Councilmember LeAnn Sargent were absent from the meeting.  The new bids will be considered by the City Council on April 2.